On Lily and James
by LMSharp
Summary: A series of short studies of Lily and James' relationship at different times at Hogwarts and after, based on Sirius and Remus' conversation with Harry about them in OotP.
1. She Would Say She Did

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter (and his parents) are the property of J.K. Rowling. **

She'd Say She Hated Him

Lily didn't exactly hate James Potter, though if you asked her, to save time and the complexity of dealing with everything, she would say she did. He certainly went out of his way to annoy her. He had, ever since about halfway through third year. He was not nearly as clever as he thought he was, and some of his so-called pranks were downright mean-spirited, though she'd never go so far as to call them dark magic.

Potter had, she knew, played an enormous role in the breakdown of her friendship with Sev (with _Snape_, she thought with a pang). He and his friends had undeniably picked on her friend, though Lily knew their rivalry was far from one-sided. Maybe it would have been better if it had been, Lily thought. Snape had always been jealous of Potter- jealous of his Quidditch skills, jealous of his popularity, and fearful of Potter's all-too-obvious attraction to Lily. Severus had been terrible about that last one, Lily thought sadly. Just because she could not return his warmer-than-friendship feelings did not mean she was about to go off and hook up with Potter. But Potter had exploited Severus' insecurity- she knew he had. Still, in the end Severus Snape had made his own choice. He was the one that had called her that unforgivable word. He was the one with that hideous tattoo on his forearm (Lily had never seen it, but lately he'd taken to rubbing it whenever she walked by). Snape was the Death-Eater, no matter what Potter had done. She could be angry, she could be resentful, but she could not hate James Potter for Snape's choices.

Potter _was_ an arrogant toerag. He was a braggart. Sometimes he was a bully. But the main problem Lily had with James Potter was that he wasn't _nearly_ as stupid as he acted.

She knew the boy was brilliant. He skived off classes to set off dungbombs in the corridors. Those he didn't skip he slept or laughed through. Yet term after term he led the class- he and Black and Lupin. Pettigrew was their dopey sidekick. Everyone knew that. But Lily _worked_ for her marks and still she was obliged to chase his skinny tail in every subject, except perhaps Potions. She figured Potter had heaps of brains under that purposely and perpetually disarrayed hair.

Yet he hexed Slytherins at the drop of a hat, and determinedly wasted time goofing off with Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. He and Black were in detention every other week. Lupin and Pettigrew joined them often enough. They called themselves the Marauders. Stupid name, Lily thought, though those ditzy Quidditch fangirls seemed to like it well enough. Fireworks in Filch's office. Giving all the Slytherins beards at suppertime.

Just as if there wasn't anything more worthwhile he could be doing. Lily had _seen_ it, beneath the larking about and the stupid grin. She'd seen hints of decency, and even nobility in him. She supposed anyone who was friends with Pettigrew had to have the patience of a saint. She knew Peter only passed his classes because of his more intellectually endowed friends. He'd saved little Olivia Jenkins from that curse the other day. And she had no proof, but she suspected Potter had done some pretty incredible things for Remus. He and Black were intelligent, and observant, too. They had to know what he was, and she'd _seen _Potter divert conversations away from Lupin's eighteenth sick auntie and give him a little, truly nice smile. It had been a wonderful thing to see…

Potter was a leader without question. The Quidditch team had been unstoppable since he'd taken over. He was the only one that could make Black stop when he was being broody and nasty- and he did, too. He was the sort that people looked to in a crisis for a calm word and a grin, and with the war on with Lord V…Lord Voldemort everyone _needed_ James Potter to step up. He had so much _potential, _and in three years or so, Lily thought, it was going to be their year fighting the war.

And James Potter was still strutting around the corridors, skiving off classes, and asking her out every weekend just as if she hadn't refused him _five hundred_ times already! It was maddening! No. Lily didn't hate James Potter. But if you asked her, to save time, she would say she did.


	2. Head Girl and Boy

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter? The Wizarding World? Not my invention. I just play there. **

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><p>Head Girl and Boy<p>

When Lily received the letter the summer before her seventh year, telling her that she'd made Head Girl, she wasn't surprised. Her marks were good, her record nearly faultless, and she was well-liked and trusted by students in her own year and below. She knew before she opened the letter that it would have the Head Girl badge in it. If there hadn't been a war on, she might even have been honored instead of frightened by it. As it was, she was a Muggleborn, target number one for any of those masked goons they called the Death Eaters, and a Gryffindor, a house widely known for its brave stance against Voldemort and his lackeys. Lily wanted to fight. It was evil, the way those people treated Muggles and their wizarding offspring. But as Head Girl, Headmaster Dumbledore was setting her up as the best and brightest at Hogwarts. There were those that resisted Voldemort, and then there were those on his personal hit list. The way Lily was going, she knew she was headed towards the latter, and that _was _terrifying.

The other name in her letter, when she thought about it, didn't surprise her either. James Potter. Head Boy. She'd toyed with the idea that the headmaster might choose one of the prefects or Quidditch captains from the other houses, but the only one she thought could be anything like what Hogwarts needed at a time like this was Remus Lupin. And to tell the truth, she thought the poor boy had enough to be getting on with, though she wouldn't have minded his company on patrols. She liked Remus.

No, she knew James Potter was the best choice Dumbledore could have made. From around the middle of sixth year, Lily had noticed that his humor had been slightly less offensive. He was actually funny, sometimes. His grades were still stellar. He'd blown the O.W.L.s out of the water, and she knew he'd be able to handle any spell that a wrongdoer, Dark or merely mischievous, shot at them. Everyone knew he was a gifted leader by now- his team had won the cup the last three years running, and that wasn't just due to his talent.

Heavens knew he was vocal against Voldemort, Lily thought, or Dark wizardry of any kind. As people disappeared right and left, with new murders being reported every week, with giants and dementors at large (not to mention the awful whisper about Inferi), Hogwarts needed someone like James Potter at its head. Voldemort was recruiting both soldiers and spies. And it wasn't just twisted, evil types that joined. Now people were joining out of fear. She could offer those at-risk a hand to hold. She could and would give them the assurance that people were fighting Voldemort, and that it was okay to be afraid. But Potter could do more. He was the sort that people would rally behind to fight back.

Lily was forced to concede that if she were headmistress she would have done the same. She knew Hogwarts needed her. She knew it needed James Potter. But did it really need them together? She grimaced, imagining it. Oh, she'd do her duty. She knew he would, too. But on patrols together? Planning out passwords and supervising prefects with him? The opportunities Potter would have to be obnoxious about it were nearly endless! Towards the end of sixth year he'd taken longer between attempts to ask her out. She'd been allowed to date a few other boys in relative peace. She hoped Potter would cease this year altogether, or else when she pinned on her Head Girl badge she wouldn't just be going to war against Voldemort.


	3. Appreciation

**Disclaimer: Just a fanfic. No claim, no gain. **

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><p>Appreciation<p>

Lily was starting to see some of the James Potter she always knew had been there. She had been right, at the start of the summer. He _was_ doing his duty. He was, Lily had to admit, a bit better at the Head student thing than _she_ was. This was irking. She'd spent ages being responsible. He'd only been playing at it a few months!

The prefects would be quarreling, or students would be dueling in the corridors, and Lily would be politely trying to get them to listen. "Everyone calm down, now," she would say. "Please, listen." Her face would start to go red, and she'd bite her tongue to hold in her temper, and then over the din Potter would bellow: "Oi! You lot! Listen up!" He had this great Quidditch Captain voice that cut through noise instantly. When the prefects or the duelers turned to look, he'd grin, bow to Lily, and pleasantly instruct the people she was trying to talk to listen to her. Unless he'd noticed the problem first. Then James Potter would speak, in a quiet, even tone that lost none of its firmness in its niceness (How _did_ he do that, Lily wondered). He spoke with humor, yes, but also with undeniable authority.

She was the one all the little third year girls came to with their tales of romantic woe. She was the one that everyone went to when their parents or siblings or cousins had been murdered by Dark wizards. She tutored, too. But when casual hexing began to dwindle in the halls, she knew it was down to James Potter. He was vigilant about it, perhaps because he had once been one of its greatest proponents. On patrol, she knew the frightened first years looked to James to protect them and lead them back to the common room when they were lost or alone in Slytherin territory.

She'd been surprised that her fears of James Potter asking her out again had been completely unfounded. "We have to work together, Evans," he'd said, that very first day on the train. "We can't do that if you're hexing me at every turn because I still haven't figured out no means no." He'd given a bitter little half smile then, but since, hadn't said a word about it. Lily had blinked, surprised, relieved, and feeling an odd sense of loss all at the same time. A few weeks into their headship together, when she had seen Potter doing his duty and keeping things professional, she had begun, grudgingly, to respect him.

He still played pranks and jokes with his "Marauder" friends. Sometimes McGonagall still gave him detention. But Lily noticed that the way she felt about it had changed. Before, James Potter's pranks had been immature and distracting. Now she was starting to think he played them at strategic times. When three murders had been reported in a week. When Peter Pettigrew had had a nervous breakdown due to N.E.W.T. studies. When times were darkest, James Potter arranged a much-needed laugh.

She began to hang around more with the Marauders. She'd always been friendly with Remus, and his friends suddenly didn't seem so bad. She found that Peter, although just as stupid as she had always assumed, was actually very sweet, and willing to do just about anything for his friends. She found Sirius Black to be the fiercest opponent of Dark magic she had ever met, probably due the deep family understanding he had of it. He no longer lived with the Blacks, she learned. He'd lived with James Potter for a year and a half now. She hadn't had any idea things had been so bad for Sirius, and found herself respecting him as well, and even considering him a friend alongside Remus.

She talked with the Marauders collectively, and saw the tightest group of friends she'd ever had the privilege to meet. Potter had already become James Potter in her head. Now she found he had become James. The day she first called him that aloud, nothing showed on his face, and he said nothing about it. But when he hailed her the next morning for breakfast he called her Lily. And he had called her that ever since. Lily hadn't ever really liked her name: it sounded girly and fragile. But when James said it she liked it. A lot.

She found herself talking to him more and more. She talked to him at mealtimes, on patrols, late at night in the common room, and sometimes even in classes. She found, to her delight, that he was capable of maintaining comic and intelligent speech at the same time. He spoke with insight and determination about the fight against Voldemort. He told her he had given up a contract to play professional Quidditch in favor of Auror training. "We need everyone who can to fight him, Lily," he told her. "We can't afford to be kids, or he's already won." He was fiercely protective of his three friends, especially Remus. He had shouted at her the day she told him she knew of Remus' lycanthropy, until she had hastily told him that it didn't matter to her, either. Then he had blushed slightly, given a curt nod, and strangely enough, held out his hand to shake. Lily had taken it, more charmed by James than she ever had been by his posturing in earlier years.

She was surprised the day she found she liked him around, astonished the day she discovered that she considered him a friend, and flabbergasted (and more than a little alarmed) when she realized that more than enjoying James' company, she actually preferred it over anyone else's


	4. Crush

**Disclaimer: It wasn't my idea. Any of it. Nor am I getting paid for it.**

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><p>Crush<p>

The first time Lily turned down a date with Roger Cunningham she didn't think much of it. Sure, Roger was rather good-looking, and she liked him well enough, but perhaps she just hadn't wanted to go out that weekend. When she turned down George Davies, though, and then Christopher Brown, she began to wonder what was going on with her. What she came up with was frightening, and more than a little embarrassing.

It was _his_ fault, she fumed. Now that they were friends, she'd been forced to see more about James than the potential she'd always seen and he'd begun to realize. She noticed how he was always around whenever she was upset. And he knew exactly what to do, too! He let her rant without judgment, and then when she'd yelled herself hoarse or broken down in tears he'd be ready with a hand on the shoulder and a kind word. He sang to himself when he thought no one was around: he had a very pleasant voice, she thought…URGH! And most of his pranks were directed towards people they suspected of Dark leanings. It was a grim day the day Lily realized they always had been. He made her laugh without being clownish. And it was adorable how he'd turned faintly pink that time she'd observed he was a lot cooler than he used to be.

Her resistance was crumbling fast now, Lily knew. The blockade she'd had against those _other_ things about James was all but gone. He was actually quite tall now, and his eyes glinted when he smiled. Lily had always tried very hard to ignore how attractive James Potter was. Now when he was no longer a complete moron it was nigh impossible. Her insides had started turning cold, hot, and then cold again when he smiled at her: that smile she suspected was just for her. Her thoughts drifted to him every ten minutes or so, then every five minutes or so. She began dreaming about him every so often: dreams of whispered words and calloused hands and stolen kisses.

Of course she raged at herself for it. She called herself twelve kinds of idiot for fancying James now. Now! He hadn't asked her out for ages! He'd probably lost interest. Even if he hadn't, and asked her out, she'd look like a total fool if she said yes _now_! She warned herself away from James. She swore desperate oaths. She would not fall for him! She had not! She was sure he no longer fancied her, and by Merlin she did _not_ fancy him! Of course in the end it was useless. Against the inexorable power of a crush there is only so much that can be done, and eventually Lily stopped fighting it.

After all, she reasoned to herself, if she wasn't dating Cunningham, or Davies, or Brown, at least James wasn't dating anyone either. They were still friends. They had been friends a couple months now. Anything could still happen. At least he still liked her after over five hundred rejections. He wouldn't spend all the time he spent with her with someone he disliked. Head duties only stretched so far. And if he liked her…Lily could work with that.


	5. Relationship

**Disclaimer: I claim no credit or compensation for this work. All goes to Ms. J.K. Rowling.**

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><p>Relationship<p>

Seventh year, Lily stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas. Petunia had found a new boyfriend: one Vernon Dursley, and he was more unpleasant than she was, if possible. Lily preferred to dodge them almost as much as they preferred her to stay away. Besides, James was staying, too.

One day, just after Christmas, Lily found herself talking to James. Just talking. They talked about the Order of the Phoenix. Headmaster Dumbledore had approached them both a few weeks prior about joining the not-so-secret society after Commencement. Lily was still unsure. While adamantly against Voldemort and his whole pureblood supremacist, dark magic campaign, she wasn't sure if she knew enough quite yet to join the front lines. She wasn't sure if she fancied the mortality rate of the Order members. She knew she didn't want to fight Severus, and realised joining might mean it would come to that. James, on the other hand, was all for it.

"People are dying, Lily," he said. "My family is dying. Yaxley killed my father right after we left Hogwarts for the summer last year." His face twisted momentarily, and then he smiled, somewhat bitterly. "I'm going to be an Auror, anyway. Their mortality rate isn't great, either, at least not nowadays. If I'm going to fight, I'm going to fight with all I've got. Voldemort-don't look at me like that, Lily, I don't for an instant buy into all this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense- Voldemort and all he represents is just plain evil. And the longer things go on like this the harder it'll be. I don't want my kids to live in a world where they'll be ostracized for Muggle connections, or could be cursed any minute. So, yeah, I'm gonna join up. Sirius, Remus, and Peter are too."

Lily stared at his thin, earnest face. "I'm not much of a fighter, James," she said. "Not like you. You know I'm going to train to be a Healer. To preserve life. But for an idea like that: for Muggle-wizarding equality and a better future? I think I could fight, just about." She found herself smiling, a little sadly. "You're a pureblood. A really gifted wizard. You've got everything to lose. And if you're going to stand up, how could I do anything less? After that speech, Potter, I have to say I'd follow you just about anywhere." She held out her hand tentatively across the nearly empty Gryffindor table. James looked at it briefly before taking it. "I'm glad you're around now, James," she said, "In the middle of all this."

James looked at her then from behind his glasses, hazel eyes intense. He seemed to be measuring her somehow, considering something. Slowly, he smiled, but he did not say anything. Rather abruptly, but without panic, Lily realised she loved him.

Two days later, James asked out Lily Evans for the first time in nearly a year and a half. She said yes immediately.

Neither Lily nor James had any delusions about what they were getting into. Seventh year was coming to a close. They would shortly be leaving the only safe place in the wizarding world. They knew one another: every fault and glory. Neither of them had time or inclination to mess around. They were serious right from the beginning.

Sirius Black was rather surprised when he returned from his great-uncle's funeral to see that Evans had finally started going out with his mate Prongs, but Remus told Lily in confidence that he'd always known that James hadn't given up on her. Peter was thrilled of the extra help for his N.E.W.T.s, for Lily had known from the get-go that to be James Potter's girlfriend was to become an honorary Marauder, with all the privileges and duties thereof.

She laughed over the Invisibility Cloak that must have kept the Marauders from three times as many detentions as the several they already had accumulated during their school years. She showed the hapless Remus a few of the Potions tricks that had had earned her fame under Slughorn and had him so baffled. She learned secret passages from Sirius and Peter took her over the castle with that miraculous map they'd all finally completed.

She cried, and kissed him, the day that James finally told her the truth behind the Marauders' nicknames. When he stood before her as a stag, she could not speak. Silently, she cast her Patronus, unsure whether to laugh or break down bawling at the rightness of it all. He held her, and laughed softly.

"Don't worry about it, love," he said. "I've loved you since halfway through third year, but you were right all those years when you told me to shove it. I was a hopeless, immature prat. And now we're together, and it's better this way. Don't you think?"

Lily and James became a seamless team. They worked together. They fought together. They thought together. They joined the Order the very evening after Commencement. And as they began to go out on missions and join in battle, always together, they did not make the mistake of believing they were invincible. How could they, especially after the Prewett brothers were killed?

The shadow of Voldemort, of dark magic and evil times, hung over them always, but it did not separate them. If anything, realising their mortality drew James and Lily closer. It made them more certain of what they had.

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><p><strong>AN: So, this is a bit different than the previous ones. Real-James, set against evil, devoted to Lily, and a very nice person (according to Hagrid) just kinda shoved his comments into the story. I found him rather easy to write. I think the comic-James, the front he puts up, would be a lot harder to write, and I can't imagine writing Sirius without mutilating him terribly. Lily's thoughts are easy for me, based on what we know of her from her friends in the books. Her WORDS I'm finding a whole lot more challenging. Still, love it? Hate it? Leave me a review and say so! **

**God Bless,**

**LMSharp**


	6. Marriage

**Disclaimer: Give it up to J.K. Rowling. If I owned the Potterverse I wouldn't be worrying about college tuition.**

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><p>Marriage<p>

Lily looked at the bedside table. It was precisely two forty-eight in the morning, according to James' watch, which he swore up and down was more accurate than any other watch in Britain. Lily smiled fondly. She wasn't sure if it was or not, but it made him happy to think it was. She looked next to her, at the dark, tousled outline that was her husband's head. She looked at his chest, rising and falling, peaceful, if only for now.

The two of them, Emmeline, and Alastor had come up against Him again last week. Lily had tended to Em after Kingsley and James had led the rescue. It had been two hours before Em's muscles had stopped twitching from the Cruciatus Curse, and five before Lily could get her to sleep. James had refused to let her go afterwards. He'd wept as he looked at Emmeline. She'd jumped in front of the curse Voldemort had directed at Lily under Alastor's arm. In between gasps that night he'd told her how guilty he felt about his relief, when Em had suffered so, and how afraid he was that next time it might be Lily. It had been her time that night to be strong and tell him why she didn't feel guilty.

Still, Emmeline had been the maid of honor at their wedding three months ago. Sirius had been best man. Lily bit her lip, torn between tears and smiles at the thought of it. It had been very high-security. Very small. Petunia and Vernon had refused to come, so practically every guest had been on Voldemort's personal hit list. Dumbledore himself had presided over the ceremony.

It had been a beautiful day. Lily had been glad of the day of peace and laughter and friends and love amidst so much war and loss. The sun had been shining. The birds had sung. Too often now they were silent, or only cried harsh cries. James had looked so astounded to finally be marrying her! Lily herself had been so happy. The days since then had been so mingled with fear and love that Lily didn't know what to think. How long? How long would it last?

Lily was a Muggle-born, and a member of the Order. She knew she had a special place in the hearts of the Death Eaters, and at the business ends of their wands. And that was even before she'd shot that curse at one of those awful Lestrange brothers that had him out of action for a fortnight. James had been pretty much untouchable. He was on the capture-not-kill list, until the day he'd married her. Now he was a blood-traitor, and anytime he met a Death Eater he stung with both his words and his wand. Everyone in the Order knew he was one of their best young warriors. Worse, Lily was beginning to suspect from the number of people that targeted James these last few weeks that they knew it, too.

Lily knew that with every skirmish she and James won, Voldemort got angrier and more afraid, and sent more people after them. She wondered how long they'd be able to evade Him. Lily rolled over and kissed her husband's cheek softly. "It better be long enough," she whispered aloud. James murmured, and his eyes opened, pupils dilating as they focused blearily on her face. Lily looked at him, and her hand went to her still flat stomach. He hadn't known until last week. She'd had to tell him why Em had jumped in front of that curse.

James' hand covered hers. "It'll be alright, Lily," he said, voice still thick with sleep. "We'll protect our child, you and me. And Sirius will help." After his first reaction of mixed joy and fear, James had said immediately that he wanted to name Sirius godfather.

"Remus is much more responsible, James," Lily laughed.

"Yes, well, he'll help, too," James agreed.

"And Em," Lily added.

"And Peter."

"And Minerva,"

"And Hagrid,"

"And when our children go to Hogwarts they'll be the most loved kids in the school," Lily said.

"And old Voldemort'll be long gone. Just you wait."

He said the words with such assurance, though Lily knew he was as full of doubts as she was. Still, the fact that he was saying them was the important thing. She blinked away the tears and nodded, placing her other hand over James' over her stomach. He kissed her. "Try and sleep, love," he said. "Tonight we're safe. You, me, and the kid. We're safe, we're together, and tomorrow we'll get up to fight again."

"Love you," Lily sighed, closing her eyes.

"Love you," James whispered, and the words were a promise.


	7. In Hiding

**Disclaimer: Even as I close I close only with events Mme Rowling thought up first!**

In Hiding

Lily sighed and hugged Harry close to her. He was so precious, her darling baby boy. He looked just like James already, and he was only a year old. She knew the resemblance would only grow as he got older. She had hoped that he would be able to play and laugh with other children. She'd looked forward to the day that his father would take him to the Quidditch pitch for his first real fly on the family broom. She'd longed to hear all about the friends he'd make in primary school, wanted to have them over. She'd hoped that she and James could continue to fight for him, and that after they threw down Voldemort, they could give Harry brothers and sisters. She'd wanted all that and more for Harry. They both had.

Until Dumbledore had come to them, when Lily was a few months pregnant. A prophecy had been made. Cassandra Trelawney's great-great granddaughter had foretold the birth of a child that would have the power to defeat Voldemort: a child born at the end of July to parents who had thrice fought and evaded the Dark Lord. It wouldn't have been a problem. Lily and James knew Sibyl from a few years ahead of them at Hogwarts. She was a phony, pretended to be all-knowing and never made an accurate prediction. James had laughed out loud when Dumbledore had told them.

It might not have been a problem even if Dumbledore was right and Sibyl had made her first ever real prophecy. Hundreds and thousands of real prophecies in the Department of Mysteries had never come true, James' friends in the Ministry said. But a Death Eater had overheard part of the prophecy, and repeated it to Voldemort, and he was looking to make sure it _never_ came true.

James and Lily had been made to relocate, away from the Potter's ancestral home. The Longbottoms, also prominent in the fight and also expecting a child, had also gone into hiding. James and Lily had been warned to keep a low profile. Lily had already dropped out of missions for the Order, now James was made to as well, lest he be followed back to their hiding place. But they were still allowed out, still allowed to see their friends.

At least, they had been. Dumbledore had been by, not an hour past, to tell them that a Death Eater had defected to their side, and brought valuable information. Voldemort had decided that the prophecy referred to Harry. To her son. A tear leaked out of Lily's eye. Harry reached up to touch it with his baby hand, and Lily only sobbed harder.

_Neither can live while the other survives_

The line rang in her head, more terrible than a curse. Whether or not Harry had the power to defeat Voldemort, he would have to now, now that Voldemort had decided he could. Harry must defeat him, or perish himself. Voldemort was hunting.

Dumbledore had proposed the Fidelius Charm for their protection, a relatively new spell that involved the concealment of their location in a single soul. Unless that soul chose to give it up, they could not be found.

It would mean no more secret forays out to the pub with the Marauders for James, no news, save from their Secret-Keeper. James' face had turned white when Dumbledore had explained. Lily's heart bled for him. She knew what fighting meant to him. And now her proud, brave husband was to simply sit by and wait? But he had taken one look at Harry, sleeping in Lily's arms, and nodded.

"I'm willing to die for you and Harry, Lily," he'd said when Lily had brought up the subject. "Shouldn't I be willing to live, too?"

"It might be years, James," she'd said, reaching for his face. "Years until he's ready."

James had shaken his head. "I don't care what Voldemort thinks. Merlin, Lily, I don't care what Albus Dumbledore thinks! Our _son, _our _baby_ can't be the only one that can beat him. If anything, His determination to get to Harry and to us will be what brings Him down. He'll be so focused on getting Harry he won't see the people coming at him from behind and sideways. You just wait: this war will be over by next year and our son will grow up in peace and freedom."

"What if He finds us before then? The Fidelius Charm protects us from Veritaserum, but not from the Cruciatus Curse."

"Peter would never tell, under _any_ circumstances." James had said with conviction.

"Maybe," Lily had said, less certain, "But I still wish we'd used Sirius."

"He was right, though, that that's just what they'd expect," James had said reasonably. "I mean, he's the fiercest fighter against the Dark we've got, love, and everyone knows he's Harry's godfather."

He'd kissed Harry's sleeping face then, and then he'd kissed Lily, and the discussion had been over. But now Lily trembled, regardless, as James opened the door to Peter downstairs. They'd be performing the Charm any minute.

"Hush now, Harry," she said to the whimpering baby in her arms. "We'll be safe, just wait and see. And one day, we'll all stand in the sun together."


End file.
